Eugene Chislenko

Philosophers Fight Climate Change

This interview series highlights the exciting ways philosophers engage the public to combat a central crisis of our time.

Eugene Chislenko is an assistant professor of philosophy at Temple University. He founded Philosophers for Sustainability with Rebecca Millsop in 2019.

Picture 1: The author, Eugene Chislenko. Picture 2: The author, Eugene Chislenko, seated in a dry, rocky landscape. Picture 3: The author, Eugene Chislenko, in Chile on his last long trip before he mostly stopped flying. Green trees and fields fill the foreground; a lake and snow-capped mountains are in the distance. Picture 4: The Philosophers for Sustainability logo, featuring a Greek letter phi and a leaf.

What type(s) of civically engaged or public philosophy do you do?

In 2019, my friend Rebecca Millsop and I co-founded Philosophers for Sustainability, a growing global network of philosophers working together to shift our field and the world toward sustainable practices. I had been doing climate work with the Sunrise Movement and running a Climate Conversations series for 350.org in Philadelphia. Both of those focused so much on encouraging people to organize their networks that it got me thinking about what my networks are. I realized that the network where I can do the most in building a climate movement is philosophy.

Philosophers for Sustainability has taken on many projects. We combine informal discussions, like our monthly Sustainability in Philosophy forum series, with focused advocacy projects, like campaigning for professional sustainable practices guidelines, supporting campus recruitment for youth-led climate strikes, and, this year, advocating for large conferences to either stay virtual post-pandemic or alternate between fully in-person and fully virtual conferences. We collect and share resources, and we have set up a structure and guide for anyone who wants to hold a one-time Sustainable Practices in Philosophy workshop in their local philosophical community.

The author, Eugene Chislenko, with Rebecca Millsop, co-founder of Philosophers for Sustainability. They are seated at a conference room table participating in a panel at a meeting of the American Philosophical Association.

Give an example of a successful project.

Simona Capisani and I just organized a three-day conference called Philosophy and the Climate Crisis, combining theory sessions with panels and workshops on advocacy and activism, including a symposium on teaching that Engaged Philosophy was part of. Other Philosophers for Sustainability members organized and chaired sessions and offered fantastic tech support. It was great! We had to think a lot about how the group could not only survive that much Zoom but leave encouraged and energized, and it pushed us to be creative with format variety, long breaks, music, breakout room “lounges,” Zoom chat, and tone. We’ll report on the conference at more length in the APA Climate Matters series.

What motivates you to do this work?

Mostly, the incredible scale and damage of human-caused climate change and the short time frame for stopping the worst of it. But other things, too. It makes my life more interesting, and makes me feel much more connected to the planet and to people around me. I want my students to see that I’m fighting for them. And I like how doing this affects my relationship to work life. I stopped hating work dinners, because of how the conversations have changed, and that’s just so gratifying.

The author, Eugene Chislenko, participating in a climate strike in Philadelphia. In an open area surrounded by high-rises, the author faces the camera in the foreground; other strikers holding signs face away from the camera.

*Poster indicating Philosophers for Sustainability’s support of the December 6, 2019, global climate strike.*

In what ways does the work inform your research (or vice-versa)?

The environment is not a research area for me. But climate change affects everything, and it’s been cropping up more and more in lots of little ways in other things I think about. For example, I write a lot about blame, and climate change offers many good examples of blame being important for accountability, on the one hand, but also potentially harmful and distracting, even when it’s deserved. Climate change is becoming an example in almost every paper I write, both because it’s relevant and because I want it on people’s minds.

In what ways does the work inform your teaching (or vice-versa)?

I recently proposed a new Gen Ed course called Climate Change and Climate Justice, and I will teach it for the first time this fall. But again, the topic fits in well in many places. Philosophers for Sustainability has a teaching team and holds forums on teaching climate change, and that has helped me find lots of ways to integrate climate into courses. I taught a class on evil that had a week on climate change as an example of atrocity. I taught a course on diversity that covered biodiversity and then environmental racism. I’ve also found it really helpful to invite young climate activists to come in and talk about their work. In the US, for example, the Sunrise Movement has hundreds of local hubs and a national campus outreach team, and students love them as guest speakers. On the other part of your question, the vice-versa, TA skills turned out to be incredibly useful for movement building. When my co-founder Rebecca and I decided to lead monthly forum discussions, it was so nice to find we already knew how to do that!

*The author, Eugene Chislenko, participating at a meeting of the International Society for Environmental Ethics in Oregon, July 2019.*

Do you consider this work a form of civic engagement/public philosophy?

Yes, absolutely. I see the objection: Aren’t public philosophy and civic engagement supposed to be outside your department or discipline? But I think organizing our field on climate is a much needed instance of both. It’s civic engagement, because it nurtures a community and directly addresses issues of public concern. And it’s a great way of connecting those issues to the practice of philosophy while also building a social movement.

I see people asking: How can we bring philosophy into climate movements in a useful way? That’s a good question, but it can easily lead us to go to a youth-led climate meeting and take over to share our wisdom. But high schoolers leading climate strikes have a lot more figured out on climate than most of us do! So I think a really important part of engaging with climate activists is not bringing philosophy out to them, but bringing them in to us: Getting them into classrooms as guest speakers, absorbing some of their skills, and figuring out how to do what they’re asking us to do, by effectively organizing our own networks.

*The author, Eugene Chislenko, and his husband, Charles (Chuck) Goldhaber. They are resting with heads down at a wooden table in a high-ceilinged library. Books cover the table.*

If someone wanted to take on civically engaged work like yours, what steps or resources would you recommend?

Join us, propose whatever you want, and we can probably find people who will want to do it with you! Alternatively, start locally by leading a Sustainable Practices Workshop for your department or region, using any of our resources you find helpful. That can help identify next steps, like rethinking teaching or colloquia, and help you find people you can work with. Either way, I think the most helpful first step is to find someone you like—anyone, anywhere—who you can talk to about what you want to do next.

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